Sometimes It's Just Dumb Luck
by Liliwen
Summary: When our heroes skills and valiant efforts fail to save the day, they must rely on luck to do it for them.


**A/N:** I originally intended for this to be 3,000 words tops. But it turned out to be 5,000 words extra. Oh well. :P I hope you like it and find it somewhat funny. In case you're wondering, this takes place after the last episode.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dragon Booster.

* * *

Moordryd laughed manically, as he was extremely happy that he had obtained the incredibly powerful thingamabob. This weird doohickey, which Moordryd had no idea what it was called, or even did exactly, was supposed to help his father enslave the entirety of Dragon City. The thingy was abstractedly pointed and looked rather pretty for a piece of geeky technology, Moordryd thought.

From his father's technological ramblings back in the citadel, when he had been telling Moordryd what to do, Moordryd was able to deduce that this doodad could act like a…er thingy to conduct all the mag energy that was going to be…flowing through his father's big weird…new machine…which could apparently, or would be able to do something or other with the VIDDscreens all around Dragon City…and then his father said something about mind control…slaves…zombies…bring some cookies…watch out for the wet floor….ultimate control of the world…Moordryd was beginning to wish he had paid better attention when his father was telling him the brilliance of his new plan. Moordryd sighed and turned the thingyamajiggy over and over in his hand.

"Moordryd, let's go now!" Cain whispered harshly. Moordryd diverted his attention from the shinywaycool thing in his hands to his second-in-command. Cain beckoned him with his hand as he held open the door. Moordryd grasped the majjiggythingy tightly in one hand, and used the other to help feel his way across the dark room. Without touching anything or breaking anything this time, Moordryd reached Cain and they crept into the hall from the room where this prettynicething was, along with numerous other funnyweirddoohickeys.

Cain held the door open for Moordryd as they left the room, then closed it quietly. They both glanced quickly up and down the long hall they were in. Stealing from the Department of Technological Advancements was easier than Moordryd had thought it was going to be, but then again, Moordryd hadn't actually taken part in the planning of shutting down all the security systems. A part of the plan which Vizz and a few other crew members had spent days, or weeks rather, figuring out how to accomplish such a feat. Moordryd crouched and after one last look down the hallway, followed Cain down the other way, glad that the plan was working so far.

Ever so quietly, they snuck out of the building without hassle, and darted out the back door and blended into the shadows of the permanent night of Down City. Moordryd and Cain were clapped on the backs by their fellow waiting crew members, all knowing that if this was successful, a party was sure to follow. Moordryd and Cain grinned almost stupidly. Stealing from the Department of Technological Advancements was no easy task, and the fact that nothing wrong had happened so far, not even a peep from the Dragon Booster himself, was all the more reason for a party.

"Come on," Moordryd said amongst all the laughter and smirks of victory, "let's get this to my father."

Vizz nosed his way through the crowd, and looked up to Moordryd, or rather, to the funnykinkythingy in his hand. "Wow."

"Get a life, it's just some type of…thing." Rancyyd grabbed for Vizz to give him a noogie. Vizz dodged him and stood on the other side of Moordryd.

"It's not just any thing," he protested.

"Oh really." Moordryd mused, hefting the weirdlookinggizmo in his hand. "Well that's good, especially since we've gone through all this trouble just to get it."

Vizz nodded and reached for the device, and Moordryd let the fourteen-year-old have it. Vizz stared at it in wonder. "This is one of the…this is…amazing." He breathed.

"Why don't you just marry it?" Prankk snorted at Vizz and elbowed Swayy. Swayy looked like him as though he were an idiot, which he apparently was.

"What is it? Since Moordryd forgot to tell us," Rancyyd asked. Moordryd glared at him, but Rancyyd didn't notice, as he was looking at Vizz.

Vizz turned the device over in his hands a few times, then spoke up. "Well, this is a central focal point, which can transmit, retain and dispatch a very high amount of mag draconium energy in a short period of time. This can be useful for a lot of things which need a very, very powerful transmitter. Mr. Paynn must need this to control a huge amount of energy at once."

"…yeah…whatever. I feel enlightened." Rancyyd yawned and scratched himself. "Can we go now? Before someone notices it's missing and calls DCS?"

Moordryd nodded and took the quainttransmitterthing from Vizz's hands. "Yes, and, for the love of dragons, Vizz," Moordryd said as they all went to their respective dragons, "you don't have to call him Mr. Paynn. That's just…it sounds weird." Vizz grinned sheepishly and shrugged from atop his dragon, Skope.

"It's not his fault he's sooooo polite," Prankk chirped in. Vizz grimaced at him.

Blarre looked at them all. "Can we go before that Dragon Loser shows up?" Swayy nodded in agreement from her dragon and followed Moordryd as they all slunk out of the alley, one by one, as silent as shadows and quieter than the moonlight. Or so Moordryd had hoped.

"I knocked over a trash can…"

"Swayy just hit me."

"Then stop being an idiot."

"My dragons stepped in something."

"Eww."

"Look, a newt."

"WHERE?!"

"Cain's running. Can I run?"

Suddenly, Cain burst out of the alley on Coershun, who was as equally frightened as him. Eyes wide and frantic, they managed to skid to a stop in the middle of a relatively wide street without making too much noise. The others came after them, each suddenly bathed in light as they stepped out from the dark alley. Swayy shook her head sadly at Cain. Rancyyd just laughed.

"It was after it growled and showed it's huge teeth that you ran, right?" Rancyyd grinned as the others laughed.

"It was…I mean it…you just didn't see it as good as I. And…and I was just surprised. Besides, I was the closest to it. You were….stop laughing!" Cain nearly shouted at them.

"Or what?" Rancyyd laughed. Cain brandished his fist. "I er, I personally, don't see what was so funny about that." Rancyyd revised his earlier attitude. Cain nodded at him.

"Will you guys just be quiet?" Moordryd hissed at them.

"Cain was the one who screamed…"

"I don't care," Moordryd sighed. "Prankk and Blarre, scout out ahead for any Dragon City Security…."

"Why do I have to go with _Prankk_?" Blarre protested as she rode her dragon to stand beside Moordryd.

"Because you do," Moordryd responded curtly.

"But why can't I go with Swa…."

"Beacause then, I would have to put Rancyyd and Prankk together." Moordryd sighed as if it were obvious. Prankk and Rancydd smirked at each other, both knowing they tended to slack off in each other's company, and basically do rather unimportant matters, like burping contests. "And I want Swayy and Rancyyd to patrol behind us."

Blarre sighed and pushed forward Concushun's handles, brushing past Moordryd as she cast a glance that shouted, 'this is probably going to kill me.' Personally, Moordryd didn't see why Blarre had to over react on this. Prankk wasn't that bad.

"Hey Blarre, let's have a farting contest."

"You do anything with your butt and I'll kill you."

Blarre and Prankk's voices faded as they stalked away and eventually they disappeared from sight as they came to an intersection and went down the left street. Soon after that, Moordryd and his crew heard a sharp thunk and a grunt shortly after. A few seconds later, Prankk reappeared, rubbing his arm. He gave them a sheepish smile, then trotted his dragon, Tricksta, across to the street on the right. Rancydd nearly giggled until Moordryd shot him and Swayy a quick glare as Vizz, Cain and he started to walk forward. When Rancyyd and Swayy fell behind, Vizz spoke up, startling Moordryd.

"Moor…jeez, I didn't mean to make you jump…" Vizz started to talk in an apologetic way, then he had to force himself not to chuckle. Cain moved Coershun up to walk between Moordryd and Vizz and grinned sideways at Moordryd.

"I did not." Moordryd replied indignantly as he held his head up high, more than slightly angered at himself for acting in such a way. The leader of the feared Dragon Eye crew didn't get startled at anything. Moordryd blamed it all on the Dragon Booster's delayed presence and the Dragon City Security's absence. Though this was how the plan was supposed to go, Moordryd felt better when he could see what was after him and actually fight it; this waiting and wondering was just awful.

Cain grinned at him in a knowing way. "You did too."

Moordryd glared at him and felt a bit better when Cain's grin faltered. "No I didn't. I just…"

"You were scared." Cain finished and smirked at him, his grin growing again after hearing Moordryd falter himself, just a bit, and otherwise unnoticeable, unless you were listening for such a thing.

Moordryd glowered back at Cain's teasing. "I was surprised. There's a difference. A big difference."

Cain gave a short laugh and turned his head to look forward. "No there's not."

"Were you scared when you saw that newt then?" Moordryd said quickly at him, referring back to one of Cain's earlier excuses that the newt had merely surprised him. Vizz snickered at Cain's reply.

"…it was a big newt…" Cain said almost dejectedly and Vizz's chuckling didn't help him any. But Cain was used to that, Moordryd thought to himself, often times the crew would banter about Cain's fear.

"I'm sure it was," Moordryd said to Cain, who dropped back to walk behind Moordryd and Vizz, giving Vizz a clear view of the totallypowerfultramsmitter held protectively in Moordryd's hand. Moordryd happened to notice his blatant stare. "No, I'm not going to let you hold it."

"Pleeeaaaasseeee?"

"No. What are you going to do if the Dragon Loser shows up? Drop it?"

Vizz stared ahead as he pouted. "No, I'd run."

Moordryd sighed and spoke harshly. "And then accidentally drop it. I have to get this to my father in one piece and I don't want you breaking it." When Vizz lowered his gaze from the street ahead of him, Moordryd felt _somewhat_ sorry. But Vizz did have a reputation for dropping and breaking things when he was scared, in a hurry, worried and such; it was then his fingers decided to fumble whatever he held. The mere thought of dropping the transmitter thing in his hands was enough for Moordryd to grip it tighter and press it against his stomach. His father had made it very clear earlier that he wouldn't tolerate any mistakes this time.

"Moordryd?" Came Prankk's static voice on Moordryd's VIDDscreen.

"What? Do you see the Dragon Booster? He shouldn't be here. We didn't trip any alarms or anything." Moordryd said in a rush. Did they see the Dragon Booster? Moordryd groaned inwardly. Now how was he going to get this odd thing to his father in one piece?

"Calm down, and I personally, didn't see anything. Blarre," Prankk said and motioned with his thumb to his right to where Blarre was waiting off screen. Moordryd rolled his eyes; like he could see her. Prankk appeared ignorant of that particular nitpick, and continued, "she thought she saw a…get this…a shadow!…ow!" Prankk's laughter was immediately cut short as a fist came to contact with his arm.

Blarre then grabbed Prankk's arm to talk into his wrist-comm while he muttered about being hit in the same spot twice. "Moordryd, it was more than a shadow. It was jumping from the rooftops and the shape of the dragon looked just like the Dragon Booster's. We'd stop him but…we can't get up there!"

"Well…then come back here. But only Prankk. Blarre, you stay somewhat ahead of us, and keep an eye on the Dragon Booster. Cain," Moordryd barked and turned around. "Get Swayy and Rancyyd up here."

"But…why? I mean, we don't even know if that is the Dragon Booster." Cain objected to bringing up Swayy and Rancyyd. Who would watch their backs then?

"If it is," Moordryd said again as he watched Cain reluctantly bring up his own VIDDscreen to call them, "I want to be ready. The Dragon Booster can't handle six of us all at once."

"There's seven of us," Vizz pointed out.

"Like I said, six of us to fight him." Moordryd looked ahead and saw Prankk returning, and shortly there after, Swayy and Rancyyd caught up. "Mag-staffs out. When he attacks I want you all over him." Rancyyd chuckled. "What?" Moordryd sighed irritably.

"Oh, Swayy will be all over him all right."

"I said he's got a nice voice. I didn't…I didn't say I _liked_ him…" Swayy shot back at Rancyyd.

Moordryd shook his head at his crew, and groaned inwardly. "Get serious!" He nearly shouted. "We have to defeat the Dragon Booster this time. We outnumber him, six to one."

"Actually," Vizz held up a finger, "seven to one."

"Shut up Vizz! You got us into the Department of Techie Scales, so now stay back and don't get in the way!" Moordryd grinded his teeth and turned away from the more than discouraged young crew member. Moordryd looked ahead, scouting for the Dragon Booster, and didn't notice Blarre's glare at his back. She had always been close to Vizz. The other crew members either didn't care, didn't want to get Moordryd in a worse mood, or just weren't paying attention. Cain, one who didn't really care, since Vizz tended to be a suck up at the best of times and would get over anything soon enough, moved Coershun to stand beside Moordryd.

"What if it's not the Dragon Booster?" Cain said cynically. "We're wasting time, Moordryd."

Moordryd ignored Cain, and continued to peer forward down the street, then raised his eyes to the tops of the buildings. After all, that was where Blarre said she had seen him. Unconsciously, his hand gripped the kookystrangetransmitter tighter, if that were at all possible. His knuckled turned white from the pressure; he wouldn't let his father down this time. Not this time.

"Wha…Blarre?" Came a voice form behind him, and Moordryd didn't bother to turn and see who it was, nor did he care. All his attention was focused ahead of him, to where he and the rest of his crew could see the faint and phantom-like shadow Blarre made in the darkness of the Down City. She was at the moment between lamp posts in the middle of the empty street, so no direct light shined on her, and at her distance, Moordryd could almost mistake her for someone else.

"Moordryd? Do you see him?" Blarre's voice came hushed and rushed on Moordryd's VIDDscreen. His reply was loud and angry.

"What do you mean see him? Where is he?" Moordryd looked around as he spoke, and so did his crew. It was Vizz and Cain who spotted him first, perched gallantly on a rooftop, calmly watching them with an air of confidence draped around himself.

"Dragon Booster!" Moordryd seethed.

"Looking for me? I'd thought I'd help you out with that." The Dragon Booster laughed and his black and gold dragon leapt down from the roof and landed behind Moordryd and his crew on the street in a small cloud of dust. The Dragon Booster grinned knowingly at them. "Here I am." Moordryd turned Decepshun around to face him, and heard the pounding as Concushun and Blarre joined the rest of the black crew.

Artha Penn, the stable brat and possibly the most annoying person the world had ever produced. Moordryd roared inwardly in fury as he glared daggers at the threat. He wasn't going to stop him this time! He just couldn't….

"What do you want?" Moordryd called, forcing down his rage, uncertainty and worriment, to speak in a level voice.

"I know what you're up too, Moordryd. Don't you know stealing is against the law?"

"Who says I stole anything?" Moordryd called in response, and glanced quickly to Vizz, who was able to shrug his shoulders before Moordryd's gaze was once again focused on the hero before him. Neither him, Moordryd or any other member of the crew knew how the Dragon Booster had known. They set off no alarms, there were no witnesses. Moordryd was irritated further. How could he possibly have known they'd stolen something?

"I say you stole something."

"What did I steal?"

"Well, you…er, it was a…," the Dragon Booster faltered, and not even he knew what the weirdgizmo was really called. His hand flew up to his helmet, and he paused while listening to someone. The egg-head, perhaps? Moordryd sighed sulkily and quickly glanced around. The rest of the stable brat's crew was likely hiding somewhere.

"Oh, you stole a…transmitter thing…the deluxe…um…force…malcu…you stole some powerful gear!" Accused they were, the Dragon Eye crew, of their theft of some powerful gear. The Dragon Booster smirked at them.

"How do you know that?" Moordryd yelled in vexation. He turned to his crew. "GET HIM!" He waved forward his hand in a, 'let's go,' type motion, and his crew and he rushed to their adversary. But before rushing off, Moordryd flipped the whatchamacallit into Vizz's astonished grasp.

"But Moor…"

"Just go!" Was all Moordryd could say as he followed his crew. Vizz gulped uncertainly and Skope bounced off, heading to Word's citadel.

The Dragon Booster hadn't seen the switch the gear took from Moordryd's hands to Vizz's. He had been busy looking at the six charging black dragons, all teeth, claws and weapons…and awful battle cries.

"Be prepared for your imminent and ultimate doom…of doom!" Prankk yelled as Tricksta led the pack.

Beau magged Artha into the air, so the force of three black dragons with activated ramming gear didn't touch him in any way. Beau, however, felt the crunching collision, and was thrown back., But though he landed hard, he fought to keep Artha aloft on the mag-stream. The three black dragons deactivated the ramming gear and smirked at him, while the other three, Coershun, Concushun and Decepshun, circled around to the back. Beau growled at them and then stood, snapping his jaws at one dragon who got a little close, who quickly danced back out of reach.

It took all Artha had to simply defend himself and to avoid becoming black dragon chow. Every time he turned he was faced with a mag-staff, someone's fist, dragon teeth, a huge sign that he hadn't been able to see in time, Moordryd's whip, a rotten egg someone had thrown and of course, mag-pushes from Moordryd, over and over again. He groaned with all the effort of fighting. He couldn't keep this up forever.

Moordryd, after accidentally hitting Blarre in the back end with a mag-push, decided to back away from the fight and see how it was actually going. It was going better than he had hoped. The Dragon Booster was hopelessly outmatched and couldn't possibly expect to get away without any help. Moordryd glanced around, but didn't see the rest of the Penn crew. He turned anxiously in the direction Vizz had left. If Vizz didn't get that gearthingy to his father…

Moordryd glanced to the fight, then making up his mind, he quickly went up to Cain, who had been knocked out of the scuffle.

"Cain, I'm going to make sure Vizz gets the gear to my father."

Cain sat up and rubbed his helmet, which was odd, since rubbing his helmet couldn't have done any good for his hurting head. "What? You gave the gear to Vizz? Are you crazy?"

Moordryd sighed. "I had to do something with it." Cain grimaced slightly. An exceptionally loud bit of fighting and a yell caused Cain and Moordryd to look over to the small battle. Thankfully, the Dragon Eyes were still winning. It had been Prankk who had yelled. It turned out that flipping wildly over the head of your opponent wasn't as much fun as it looked.

Moordryd turned back to Cain. "I'm going to go and catch up to Vizz. Keep attacking the Dragon Loser. Even if he…if he does a mag-pulse or something, get back up and fight! Keep him here! If you guys let him escape, I'll…I'll do…you won't like what I'll do!"

Cain nodded. As Moordryd sped away on Decepshun, Cain leapt back into the fight and managed to loose his mag-staff. He hoped that wasn't an ill omen.

----------

Parm sighed and leaned forward in his saddle, binocs glued to his face as he watched atop a conveniently placed building. "This isn't good."

"I know," Lance said emphatically, "I don't have a draconee-yum bar in my hand."

Parm lowered his binocs to look disapprovingly at Lance. "Lance."

"What?" Lance spread his arms.

"Artha's in trouble, and all you can think of is a candy bar?"

"But he'll be okay." Lance replied slowly. "Beau and he will do some drac move, then they'll take the gear from Moordryd and give it back to the department of…technol…er, where they stole it from."

"I wouldn't be too sure. Artha's extremely outnumbered, there are more Dragon Eyes out there than usual. He's barely blocking their attacks." Parm said, placing the binocs to his face again as he watched the fight.

"I repeat, Beau and Artha will do a drac mag-move, then take the gear."

"But," Parm answered without looking at Lance, "what if Moordryd counter attacks with a mag-move of his own? And Artha's doesn't have time to do anything. The crew is all over him! Literally!"

Indeed it was true, for Prankk, Cain and Swayy, (much to the amusement of Rancyyd), had jumped on the Dragon Booster and were attempting to pin him down with their bodies. Artha struggled against them, then sent off a weak mag-pulse, which was luckily strong enough to throw them off himself. Immediately after, Artha barely had time to bring up his jakk-stick to defend against an attack from Blarre and to avoid Coershun's swiping paw. Cain landed near Moordryd, and seemed to pick up a nice little chat with him.

"Guys?" Kitt said hesitantly as she watched something from the opposite end of the rooftop.

Not hearing her, Parm said to Lance. "See? We need to get down and help!"

"Let me see!" Lance grabbed for Parm's binocs, who handed them over with a sigh. Lance peered through them to get a better look at the scuffle and saw more clearly what Parm had meant.

"Kitt? We should get down there now." Parm said and turned Cyrano when he didn't see Kitt. "Kitt?"

His eyes finally noticed her as she glanced at them swiftly, then back again to whatever held her attention. "Guys, Moordryd doesn't have the gear!" She said, waving them over to the other side of the building.

Parm frowned, confused. He walked Cyrano over to her. "What? But he stole it! And now Artha needs our help."

"Didn't you see him hand it over to Vizz?" Kitt asked pointedly. Lance lowered the binocs and shared a look with Parm. They both shook their heads.

"Uh, who?" Parm asked, then looked down at Lance. "And give those back."

Lance handed the bincos up to Parm then crossed his arms and muttered. "Grabby."

Kitt sighed. "Vizz is a Dragon Eye, and Moordryd just gave him the gear to give to Word while the crew is keeping Artha busy!"

Parm gasped and heard Artha grunt rather loudly from taking a kick to the stomach. "We need to…we need to split. We need to find Vizz and help Artha."

Kitt grabbed her mag-staff. "I'll help Artha. Vizz shouldn't be hard to catch, you guys get him."

"Right." Lance said and raced off giddily with Fracshun.

"Wait, Lance!" Parm called as he pushed forward his controllers, sending Cyrano into a lurching gallop. Kitt saw them go, then bent down to speak to Wyldfyr.

"Let's kick a little bad guy butt, shall we?" Wyldfyr grinned in anticipation of doing just that. "Hyaah!" Kitt yelled as Wyldfyr leapt over the edge of the building and landed in front of the fight.

Swayy noticed her. "A stable brat!"

Kitt clutched her mag-staff tightly and grimaced. "I am not a stable brat."

"Kitt!" Artha said happily as he heard her voice, though he couldn't see her since he was rather busy fighting.

Kitt swung her mag-staff, but Swayy ducked underneath the arc. Kitt fought Swayy one on one for a while, before Cain suddenly appeared behind her and swung his own mag-staff, which he had luckily found again, at her back. Kitt fell forward and managed to break her fall with her hands. Her mag-staff dropped from her grip and clattered to the ground underneath her. Kitt looked behind, then kicked her feet at Cain's shins. He yelped as Kitt took the opportunity to rise to her knees and block a swift punch from Swayy.

Hearing a rumbling, she turned and saw Decepshun bounding away. Kitt gasped. Moordryd was leaving his crew to deal with them, while he went to help Vizz. "Dragon Booster!" Kitt yelled.

"What?" Artha replied weakly, and raised his arms to defend from another attack while another Dragon Eyes attacked him from behind. Kitt looked up at the grinning Swayy, who was breathing deeply and laughing, and also taking a breather from the fight. The Dragon Eyes were just toying with them. They knew that they had the fight won.

"Moordryd left." Kitt said. Swayy laughed. Amidst the clangs and grunts of the fight, Kitt barely heard Artha's, "what," before two Dragon Eyes and a dragon jumped on him.

Kitt heard Cain grunt as he rubbed his shins. "Well let's see you two do something about that." Swayy looked at Kitt and smirked, twirling her mag-staff in her hands. Kitt stood and glared at Swayy, then turned to see what Cain was doing. He grinned at her and brandished his staff menacingly.

A few moments later, the Dragon Eyes, tired of fighting, playing with their enemies and tempting fate, had pinned the Dragon Booster and his friend up against the wall with trapping gear. But not before Kitt had cracked a few helmets, given more then a few bruises and broken Cain's mag-staff.

----------

Meanwhile, whilst the Dragon Booster was being so zealously attacked, Vizz had made good his little escape and managed to run quite a distance to Word's citadel. Skope began to breath heavily from the exertion of actually running for more than ten minutes. He wasn't a racer, scale it! He was the Dragon Eyes Surveillance Expert's dragon and he'd rather be playing one of his VIDDgames right now. However, Vizz continued to tilt the handles forward, and so Skope ran on, up and down drag ways, through alleys and through busy intersections.

Vizz kept glancing behind himself, anticipating the Dragon Booster to suddenly leap into a valiant pursuit. But no hero came. Vizz should've expected that. After all, he was outnumbered, _six_ to one. Vizz breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure how long Skope and he could outrun the Dragon Booster if they were pursued. Neither of them were used to racing or even running through the streets.

Vizz and Skope had their eyes glued to the streets before them as they weaved in and out of traffic, both too busy to even glance behind again, for fear of taking their eyes of the road ahead, even for a second.

Lance soon had him in sight. "I see him." Lance said back to Parm.

"Okay." Parm said, desperately making sure Cyrano was running as fast as he could without bumping into anything or anyone, which wasn't easy on the busy streets.

"Let's go, Fracshun!" Lance said eagerly and pushed forward the handles. Fracshun zipped amongst the traffic, catching quickly up to the less experienced runner until they were right behind.

When Vizz looked behind once again to make sure he wasn't being pursued, he found a kid chasing him. It took him a minute to realize that 'kid,' was one of the Dragon Booster's friends. "Skope! They're onto us!" Skope, in between his heavy gasps for breath, managed to gasp in surprise. He lowered his head and picked up speed.

"Faster, Fracshun!"

Fracshun increased his speed until he was right beside Vizz. "I'll take that, thank you." Lance said politely as he impolitely grabbed the gear from Vizz. Vizz would have snatched the gear back, had he not been so worried of losing his balance and falling of his speeding dragon.

"Give it back!" Vizz commanded.

"See ya!" Lance turned Fracshun to the right, leaving Vizz behind. Lance brought up his VIDD-screen. "Hey, Parm! I got…"

"Now _I'll_ take that!"

Moordryd leant down and violently jerked the gear, ripping it from Lance's hands. He quickly stopped Decepshun, then headed in the direction to his father's citadel.

"Lance? Lance, got what?" Parm's voice came over Lance's VIDDscreen.

"Uh, I had it. Moordryd took it." Lance growled. "I'll get it back." He slowed Fracshun down and turned him around fluidly and quickly. Lance looked ahead and saw Moordryd reach an intersection.

"I think I'll get it." Parm growled. Lance wondered how he'd do that, but then, Cyrano rushed into the intersection with green ramming gear activated, just as Moordryd and Decepshun did. Decepshun turned her head and saw a rush of green before she was hit in the side. Lance urged Frachsun to go faster, which included weaving around astonished humans and dragons.

Only the agility of a purple dragon allowed it to jump out of the way before Decepshun landed where it had been standing. Moordryd groaned and opened his eyes, groping for the gear as he did so. Before his fingers could properly get a good hold of it, it was lifted from his grip.

"Thank you, Moordryd," Parm said and ran back to his dragon, leaving the infuriated Paynn to glare heatedly as his own dragon stood.

"Not so fast, egg head!" Moordryd lashed out with his whip. Cyrano opened his eyes wide as he saw what Moordryd intended to do. He sent a mag-stream to Parmon, who squealed as the whip grabbed his leg and the green stream pulled him to his dragon. Cyrano growled and magged Parm. Moordryd growled and pulled on his whip.

Parm dangled in the air, gear in one hand, afraid he may be torn apart. Moordryd felt his grip loosening on the whip's handle, and glanced down to Decepshun. She grinned and gave him some mag energy, which he used to form a mag-push into his free hand. Parm looked back and saw Moordryd's poised hand.

"Oh dear," Parm moaned and closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. Moordryd laughed and threw the mag-push at the green mag-stream. Parm, relieved that he hadn't been hit directly, fell heavily to the ground, then was dragged along the street as Moordryd reeled him in. Decepshun helped by magging Parm up when he neared them.

"Give me that." Moordryd demanded.

Parm held the gear closely, hanging by Decepshun's mag stream. "No."

Moordryd clenched his teeth and took hold of one part of the gear, yanking it towards himself. Parm yanked it back. "I said give it!" Moordryd balled a fist and prepared to strike.

Parm glanced at the fist, then pulled the gear towards himself again. "No," he said boldly.

Moordryd was alarmed and very much annoyed by the egg head's new found boldness and courage. "Alright, fine then. Take it."

"Really?"

"NO!"

Moordryd dropped his whip and grabbed at the transmitter with both his hands, getting as good a grip as he could on it, which wasn't that easy, considering the fact that Parm was covering it with his arms. But he managed to grab onto a bit, which was enough for him. "I said give it!"

"I said no!"

"Give it!" Moordryd roared and lost his grasp on the transmitter. Parm huddled it closer to his body.

"Cyrano!" he called out to his dragon. "Lance, where are you?"

"I'm coming!" Lance said and lifted his flash stick. "Smile, Moordryd."

Moordryd did not smile, he gasped, which would've made for a rather bad picture of himself. Luckily, Lance didn't hold a camera, and even luckier for Moordryd, Vizz had come back to save the day.

Skope ran right towards Lance, and Vizz, who was wishing he had thought of a different plan, a plan that didn't include him doing dangerous things on a speeding dragon, reached out for Lance as they past him. He grabbed Lance around the waist, and they both fell to the ground. The flash stick clattered to the street and rolled a safe distance away. Skope stopped and turned to face Frachsun, noticing that he was bigger, older and had the help of Decepshun nearby. So he roared at him. Frachsun chattered back.

"Ow," both Vizz and Lance moaned. Vizz quickly pinned Lance down and sat on his back. Since it was very hard for Lance to get up with someone four years older than him on his back, he could do nothing. He looked around for the flash stick, only to notice it out of reach.

Moordryd, out of danger of extremely bright lights, grinned at Parm. Parm gulped and looked back at Cyrano.

Cyrano roared at them, soon joined in by Fracshun, who realized that Skope was not much of a fighter. Skope was severely insulted by that. He was a Dragon Eye dragon, of course he could fight! Just to prove his point, he leapt onto Frachsun's back, rendering him useless and making him much too busy to be of any use to Parm. Cyrano, meanwhile, charged up for a mag-blast.

"Good boy, Cyrano!" Parm smiled, obviously expecting the green mag-blast to at the very least loosen Moordryd's grip enough so that he could escape. Decepshun growled at Cyrano and met his mag-stream with a powerful one of her own. She had tossed Parm non too lightly into Moordryd's lap.

When Parm realized where he was, he was met by an infuriated Paynn, and his fists. Parm screamed and covered his head with his arms to block Moordryd's attacks. Suddenly he gasped when he realized he had dropped the transmitter. Crashing to the ground, the transmitter rolled slightly as both Moordryd and Parm winced. Parm winced because the transmitter was now free, and Moordryd winced because he was worried it might get dented or worse, scratched. Or even worse, broken. Moordryd grabbed Parm by the back of his shirt and threw him in the opposite direction. Quickly wrapping his whip around the transmitter, he hauled it up.

"Alright girl, I've got it!"

Decepshun looked back at him in understanding, then steadied her stance and charged up her mag-stream, throwing back a tiring Cyrano. "Vizz, keep them here," Moordryd shouted over his shoulder as Decepshun bounded away, slightly irritated that just two of the stable brats had proved to be such a distraction.

Vizz grinned down at Lance, glad he had at least one under control, but quickly wondered how he would keep the green dragon and his rider here as well. Skope was still scuffling with Fracshun as Parm jumped onto his dragon's saddle. Vizz looked at him.

Parm glared at him. "Get off my friend, or else," he said through clenched teeth in a voice that was so unlike him and activated his ramming gear. Already incredibly angry at himself for dropping the transmitter, he just felt like crushing something, which wouldn't be too difficult with Cyrano.

Vizz realized he was at a disadvantage, and Skope was too busy with Fracshun to help him. "Skope…Skope, come here!" Vizz shouted and jumped off Lance. Skope tore himself from Fracshun and swiped one last paw at him, slightly embarrassed that he couldn't easily beat a younger, weaker, little blue dragon. Fracshun danced away just in time to avoid the full blow of the strike, but earned a few scratch marks on his nose. The scratches were barley visible, but not to Skope. He sneered at Fracshun (he had gotten the last laugh, for once in his life) and ran. Vizz picked up Lance's flash stick and was magged into Skope's saddle as they headed after Moordryd.

Lance quickly ran to Fracshun and clamored aboard. "Parm, he's got my flash stick!"

"I know, Lance. I know. Come on, we'll go a different way. If we follow them, Vizz will just blind us with it."

Cyrano deactivated the ramming gear and charged headlong down a different street. Following lightly behind, was Lance and Fracshun.

----------

Moordryd activated his VIDDscreen. "Father."

"Moordryd. What is taking you so long?" Word immediately said as his VIDDscreen showed his son's face. He sat in his chair and leaned forward. "I feared you'd run into the Dragon Booster again."

"I did," Moordryd explained bluntly and smiled. Word noticed this and grinned. "The crew has taken care of him. I've dealt with the egg head and the mini-brat and I'm on my way." Moordryd then held up the transmitter for his father to see.

"Excellent," Word replied. "I'll be able to use it _immediately_ after you hand it to me. Dragon City won't stand a chance."

----------

"Arghh," the Dragon Booster groaned and moved his legs uselessly against the wall he was trapped against.

"Oh, stop it. We ain't letting you go." Prankk smiled at him.

"Then stop poking me!"

Prankk grimaced and for the moment stopped poking the Dragon Booster with his mag-staff. "But I'm bored. And you can't stop me. Poke. Poke."

"Arghh!"

"Prankk," Cain said exasperatingly from where he was watching the fun while leaning against Coershun. All the Dragon Eyes were close to their dragons, ready for anything, except a nuclear disaster. Artha sighed in relief as Prankk frowned.

"Aww, Cain. Come on."

When Cain grinned at him, Artha realized he wasn't going to help. "Poke him _harder_. You poke like a gir…I mean, like a, like a stable brat."

"There you go." Blarre lounged on her dragon and gave Cain a smile that said, "that was a close one for you." Cain was just relieved Blarre wouldn't make him regret his first choice of words, especially in front of the Dragon Booster and Kitt Wonn.

"Seriously, they're tied up. Can we go?" Rancyyd sighed.

Cain watched as Prankk continued to poke Artha. "Nope. Not until DCS or someone else finds us. Until then, we stay here. The Dragon Loser has to stay here as long as possible."

Rancyyd rubbed the back of his neck, where he had gotten an unsightly bruise. "Yeah, but not all five of us has to watch them. They aren't going anywhere."

Cain shook his head. "Stay here. If the Dragon Booster gets free too early…I'll let you deal with Moordryd. Or better yet, with Word. He'll be pretty scale scrapped if the Dragon Booster stops his plans."

"Again." Kit said absent mindedly. Cain just sneered at her.

"Plans?" Artha said worriedly. Of course, that was probably why they had stolen it in the first place, but Cain said it like it was going to happen real soon. Artha was expecting Word to spend more time in perfecting his plan. How imminent was it?

Cain gave Artha a 'duh' sort of look. "Of course he has plans, Dragon Loser. Why else would he steal it?"

"Can't he just buy one?"

Cain opened his mouth to say something in return, but paused. He looked at his crew, who looked confused themselves. "Well because…"

"I mean, he's got enough money."

Blarre sighed, perhaps at their stupidity. "That transmitter isn't even on the market yet. It's in the finishing stages of development. Even Word can't get his hands on it legally. And besides, it's too powerful for Dragon City to sell it to him, or anyone else. They were going to keep it for emergency purposes, now that the Dragon and Shadow Booster are here, and the war is about to start."

The crew stared at her. "What? I was talking to Vizz before we left…"

Cain shook his head, then glared at Artha. "That's why. So shut up and be a good captive."

Artha frowned at Cain, then yelled at Prankk. "WILL YOU STOP POKING ME ALREADY?"

Prankk snickered, but quickly stopped when they heard sirens. For a moment, everyone froze and listened. Cain was the first to react. "Dragon City Security?" He looked to his captives.

"Guess your time is up, Cain." Kitt smirked.

Cain glowered at her before jumping onto Coershun's saddle. He seemed hesitant, but at last called out to the crew. "Let's go. Oh, and by the way," he said as he walked Coershun in front of Kitt and Artha. "In case you're thinking you may be able to stop us, it's too late. Moordryd and Vizz are probably already at the citadel."

"Don't be so sure. Parm and Lance went after them," Artha retorted.

Cain stared at him, then laughed. "Oh, that's rich. The egg head and the mini-brat stopping Moordryd by themselves." Cain took a moment to wipe a tear from his eye before grinning back at his crew and moving out before the DCS came any closer. "Come on. They haven't got a chance."

----------

Moordyrd could now see his father's citadel, a building he was soon running under the shadows of. He was nearly there. Vizz had fallen behind a while ago, so Moordryd couldn't see him now, but it didn't matter. Vizz had protected him from behind, or so he assumed, since Parm and Lance hadn't caught up. Moordryd grinned as he approached the bridge. Finally, he'd done something right, and no stable brat had ruined it!

With a quick glance behind, Moordryd's grin widened as he saw no pursuit. Laughing, he urged Decepshun onward. But they never made it to the bridge.

The egg head had came out of nowhere from the side and plowed them over with his green ramming gear. Moordryd should really have taken that away from him. The sudden attack threw Decepshun down, Moordryd fell from the saddle, and the gear rolled from his hand. Moordryd looked up at the tops of the buildings, dizzily thinking the stable brats must have used some side street or something. Dimly Moordryd heard someone yell, "Lance, get it!" "I am!"

Moordryd gasped and clenched is empty hand. He looked to his side where Lance had just picked up the gear. "I got it!" he exclaimed. With a last looked at Moordryd, he vaulted onto his dragon.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Grr…" Moordryd seethed and looked for Decepshun. She was just getting to her feet.

Cyrano aimed a mag-blast at her feet, and before she could realize what he had done, she was down again. "Let's go, Lance!" Parm said, unable to suppress his big smile.

"Ha ha, guess what we've got!" Lance snickered and pushed forward his handles. Frachsun raced down the street Moordryd had just come from, with Cyrano close behind. Moordryd slammed the ground with his fist. But before he could utter a threat to them and give chase, Vizz once again came to the rescue.

He neatly and unexpectedly picked the gear from Lance's hand. "Ha ha, guess what _I've_ got!"

"Go, go, Vizz!" Mordryd hollered at him as he got to his feet and raced to Decepshun. Vizz raced past him toward the bridge leading to the citadel.

"Moordryd!" yelled Cain as he and the other Dragon Eyes raced up and stopped near him.

Moordryd looked at them stupidly for a moment before demanding of them. "What are you _doing_ here?"

"The DCS came, and we burned claw to get here before the Dragon Booster. Where's the gear? Does Vizz have it?" Cain then peered to Vizz, who was just entering the citadel…with Lance and Parm on his tail. Moordryd's eye twitched.

"You idiots! Why aren't you stopping them?"

Cain glanced around as if just noticing that the two stable brats weren't were they were when he had first ridden up. "At least Vizz is inside now, and the Dragon Booster isn't here yet."

Moordryd rolled his eyes at Cain as he finally got onto Decepshun's saddle and prepared to enter the citadel. "Lucky for you," he responded curtly as Decepshun began to run.

A flash of red blew past them all, startling them and their dragons. "Eyes on the sky guys and don't get hurt!" Kitt had the heart to bother to look back at them as she sprinted across the bridge.

All the Dragon Eyes paused and looked skyward, expecting to see the Dragon Booster flying in. When nothing happened, Moordryd and his crew looked all around them. Shaking his head, Moordryd realized they were all still standing outside the citadel, while three stable brats were inside. "GET MOVING!"

His crew jumped and bumped into each other as they all tried to run across the bridge. Moordryd followed them, sighing loudly.

----------

Word was physically unable to stop pacing as he waited for his son to arrive. He hadn't talked to Moordryd that long ago, and he had assured him that the gear was safely in his possession…so why wasn't he here yet?

Hearing a thundering of feet, Word smiled and sat in his chair, relieved. But when he realized the pounding feet were too light for the dragon to be Decepshun, not to mention the other feet he heard, he began to get worried. He sighed irritably and poised a finger above the buttons to his citadel defenses. Could his son do nothing correctly?

"What? Vizz?" Word gasped as the last person he expected to come running into his citadel came running into his citadel.

"Mr. Payn…I mean sir…uh…here!" Vizz held the gear out before him as Skope skidded to a stop before Word. However, since simply riding his dragon was a great enough feat for Vizz, the gear fell from his hand as the sudden stop unbalanced him.

"No!" Word had to lunge at the gear to catch it before it fell to the ground. He growled and stood. "You fool! I cannot have this damaged!"

"It's okay. It didn't break the last time we dropped it."

"You what?"

"There it is!"

Vizz and Word looked at the door, to find Parm, Kitt and Lance rushing towards them. Word backed away slightly with the gear and looked to his control panel. He could activate and use this gear immediately…but he would need a few seconds without distraction, which seemed to be a near to impossible if Vizz was the only one here to help him stop those three Penn crew members.

"Hand it over, Word," Kitt said and walked her dragon closer. The others followed her.

Word frowned at them. "I think you know the answer to that very well. You may think you have me outnumbered, but the three of you won't pose a threat. My citadel defenses will…"

"Now!" Parm shouted once he realized where Word's fingers were headed to on his control panel. Word stared at them, wondering what 'now' meant. It apparently meant time for the Dragon Booster to appear and take the gear from him.

If only Word had known that was what 'now' had meant. Artha came swooping up into the citadel from below, and had his dragon mag the gear from Word's claws. For all Word knew, one moment he had the gear in his hands, the next it had disappeared.

"Dragon Booster!"

"The one and only."

Word had been about to shout, "Get him," but had then noticed the only person around to 'get him' was the Dragon Eye Surveillance Expert. Word paused for a moment before finally saying, "Get him!"

Vizz grinned and saluted at him before rushing towards the Dragon Booster, who had landed near his friends.

"Oh, is that it?" The Dragon Booster nearly laughed. Word's eye twitched as Beau's mag stream calmly picked up Skope, and threw him behind himself towards the door. The Dragon Booster grinned at Word.

"This won't be as easy as you may think, Dragon Blunder," came Moordryd's horribly familar voice.

"How'd he get in here?"

Moordryd told Cain to shut up, then activated his mag-staff, as did the other Dragon Eyes…well, the ones who's mag-staffs weren't broken, that is. Cain was out of luck. He felt rather left out.

As Word laughed and went to work preparing the gear for his malicious purposes, the Dragon Eyes (including the now valiant Vizz) attacked.

"You guys try to hold them back, I'll get the…" Artha was forced to leave his sentence hanging in the air as he was hit by a mag-blast. Moordryd picked up his sentence.

"…you'll get the scales beaten out of you!" He grinned, evidently enjoying himself. He was winning, _and_ insulting the Dragon Booster.

Artha groaned and noticed his friends all in heated battles while Moordryd walked Decepshun up to him, both grinning super evilly. Artha looked behind himself, and noticed his fall had landed him near to Word. He leapt to his feet, but then found himself suspended in the air by a mag-pull from Moordryd. Moordryd laughed and threw him out the door, where he met the pavement painfully.

"Want some more? Get in here!"

Artha barked back at Moordryd. "Fine. You can just try, but you won't win!"

"I won!" Word exclaimed and threw his empty hand in the air, indicating that it was finished. The gear was now fully installed to his control panel and ready to use.

But Artha was outside, so he couldn't see this until he had pushed his way inside again. He gasped. "No…you…"

Word smiled at him. "How can you stop me…when I'm already done?"

"Done? Done what Paynn?" Kitt demanded, and eyed the Dragon Eyes that began to surround her. They quickly had the Penn Crew restrained.

Word laughed. "The entirety of Dragon City will become my slaves, simply by watching their VIDDsceens."

Artha gasped again. "Word…leave television out of this!" Word simply laughed and ignored him. Artha roared and ran at him, pushing a few Dragon Eyes out of his way; however, Moordryd simply tripped him with his drain whip.

"No," Kitt said as Word flipped the switch for his evil plot. "He's…won?"

"Nooooooooo!" Artha screamed as Word laughed, seeing the gear power up, ready to transmit a very powerful signal to all of Dragon City. Artha, Kitt, Parm and Lance could only watch helplessly and struggle against their captives as Word continued to laugh.

"It won't work," Parm desperately tried to tell himself, to quell his mounting fear. But it didn't work. "…it's working…"

Artha yelled. How could he allow this? He was the Dragon Booster! All of Dragon City was going to become Word's new wraiths. What about Connor? Was he watching a VIDDscreen too?

And then the power went out.

Everyone stood in darkness for a minute. Then came the sound of Word frantically pushing buttons on his control panel. "What…it was almost…what happened?"

Vizz looked around himself, then spoke up timidly, "I…I think you blew a fuse…"

Word snapped his head around to glare at Vizz. "I blew a fuse?" Vizz but his lip and everyone cringed, waiting for an explosion from Word.

Before Word could say anything, Artha spoke up. "So um…how's the gear?"

Word glared at him. "The gear is none of y…" Then the gear began to spark, and appeared to short out.

Parm ventured an explanation. "I suppose that broken fuse might have, to put it very simply…caused an overload in the gear and caused it to…short out."

Artha stood up as the Dragon Eyes released their hold on the Penn Crew. "So it's broken?"

"Yup."

"Well then," Artha said as he brushed his hands, as though he had done something worthwhile, "I guess our job is done here."

Word stood up rigidly, and had trouble containing his anger.

"Oh, and Moordryd," Artha said as he mounted Beau and prepared to leave with the rest of his crew, "I wouldn't stick around here too long. It may get ugly." Moordryd pretended to ignore him, but nonetheless, he started to edge toward Decepshun.

And so, as Artha, Kitt, Parm and Lance raced out of the citadel and onward to home, they heard Word's last yell, "I BLEW A FUSE???!???!??!?????!? AAARRGGHHHH!"

The Dragon Eyes quickly left the citadel. Apparently more than one fuse had blown.


End file.
